Oftentimes persons need to divide tablets or pills in order to reduce the dosage or facilitate the administering of prescription or over the counter medications. Manually breaking the tablets has proven to be quite difficult due to the small size and rigidity of most tablets. Accordingly, means of breaking or cutting the tablets have been developed. Traditional devices for accomplishing this task are often unsafe, expensive, bulky or otherwise inconvenient.
One of the problems associated with existing devices for dividing tablets is that the blades are exposed. Since these cutting blades have to be very sharp in order to make a clean cut, it is extremely dangerous to have them exposed. A mere slip of the hand while attempting to use a device with exposed blades could result in severe injury. Moreover, children and the elderly are more likely to be injured while attempting to use, or misuse, such a device.
Another problem associated with traditional cutting devices is that they do not accommodate the myriad of tablet shapes that can be encountered. Odd sized or shaped tablets oftentimes do not fit securely in recesses or frames found in the traditional devices.
Existing devices also have the disadvantage of being large, bulky, or otherwise inconvenient to carry around.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide a tablet cutter that offers the safety of a hidden blade, the versatility of multiple tablet holders, and the convenience of a compact design.
A device that has a hidden blade will lessen the possibility of injury due to accidents or misuse. Having the capability to adapt to and efficiently cut a much larger selection of tablet sizes or shapes will eliminate the need to own multiple cutters to cut different sized tablets. It is also desirable to have a tablet cutter that is compact enough to fit in a purse or pocket so that tablets can be cut anywhere as opposed to only at home.
Other advantages or the solution to problems may become apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art thorough use of the invention.
In general terms, the invention includes a tablet cutter comprising: (a) a blade support portion, the blade support portion comprising an insert end and a cutting blade affixed to the blade support portion, the cutting blade oriented toward the insert end; (b) a tablet support portion, the tablet support portion being adapted to slidingly engage the blade support portion from the insert end, the tablet support portion having at least one slotted tablet holder adapted to hold a tablet in place as the tablet support portion slidingly engages the blade support portion such that the cutting blade passes through the at least one slotted tablet holder as the tablet support portion slidingly engages the blade support portion.
The tablet cutter of the present invention preferably has at least one slotted tablet holder shaped so as to hold tablets selected from the group consisting of square tablets, triangular tablets, ovoid tablets, elliptical tablets, and round tablets. Most preferably, the tablet cutter has at least one slotted tablet holder comprising at least two slotted tablet holders shaped so as to hold tablets, at least two of which are selected from the group consisting of square tablets, triangular tablets, ovoid tablets, elliptical tablets, and round tablets.
There may be one or more tablet holders mounted to the tablet support portion that are used for holding in place tablets of various sizes and shapes. Each tablet holder can be shaped according to the type of tablet for which it is to hold. The holders can be of many different sizes and shapes.
In an alternative embodiment, the tablet support portion of the tablet cutter comprises at least two slotted tablet holders adapted to hold tablets according to at least one dimension of a tablet. The sizes of the tablet holders can be varied thereby accommodating different sizes of tablets.
In a preferred embodiment, the invention includes a tablet cutter comprising: (a) a blade support portion, the blade support portion comprising a hollow rectangular box having one open insert end and a cutting blade affixed to the inside of the blade support portion, the cutting blade oriented toward the insert end; (b) a tablet support portion, the tablet support portion being adapted to slidingly engage and fit inside the blade support portion from the insert end, the tablet support portion having at least one slotted tablet holder adapted to hold a tablet in place as the tablet support portion slidingly engages the blade support portion such that the cutting blade passes through the at least one slotted tablet holder as the tablet support portion slidingly engages the blade support portion.
Preferably, the tablet cutter has a handle to allow the tablet support portion to be easily removed from the blade support portion and for preventing the tablet support portion from being totally enclosed by the blade support portion when the tablet support portion slidingly engages the blade support portion. One way of providing such a handle is to adapt the tablet support portion to have two appendages affixed to the corners of the distal end of the tablet support portion opposite the end at which the tablet support portion slidingly engages the open end of the blade support portion.
The tablet cutter can be made of any type of commercially available material or combination of materials having a rigid nature appropriate to its function, such as wood, plastics or metals.
The shape of the cutting blade that is mounted to the blade support portion can be altered in size, height, and angle of the cutting edge in order to maximize the performance of the tablet cutter.